Wireless Charging On The iPhone 8 – Yay or Nay? Take A Look!

The iPhone 8 is a regular feature of the rumor mill, which promises a lot of upgrades for the device. The most important of these will be OLED upgrades, a button free front facade and wireless charging. Out of these, OLED and wireless charging are long overdue on the device. Apple’s put off display upgrades for a long time and several Android manufacturers have introduced wireless charging for their smartphones. However, will wireless charging really be worth it on Apple’s flagship? We take a brief look at the pros and cons below.

Wireless Charging On The iPhone 8 Might Put Apple In A Tough Spot This Year

Sources speculate that Apple will launch a vastly overhauled iPhone 8 this year. KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo has been very active in the leaks sphere for the device. He’s the latest to add fuel to the fire that wireless charging will finally make it on the iPhone this year. However, things might not proceed as smoothly as you’d expect if Apple does introduce the feature. Already, Kuo reports, Cupertino will add an extra layer of graphite on the iPhone to prevent overheating.

Consumer interest around wireless charging is at an all time high. According to a survey by the Wireless Power Consortium in December 2016, 90% of the 2000 people surveyed rate present solutions as safe, easy to use and reliable. Somewhat smaller proportions of 81% and 79% respectively, consider speed of use and price of accessories satisfactory. Furthermore, 49% of consumers using wireless charging purchased more than once accessory and 15% purchased more than three accessories.

More importantly, especially for Apple, 79% of consumers who do not use wireless charging intend to use one in the future. It’s a market ripe for penetration and Apple’s decision makes a lot of business sense. The company became a WPC member last week, raising possibilities of its adoption of the Qi standard, which the group strongly advocates. The Apple Watch is based on the standard as well. However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns as industry advocates would like you to believe.

On smartphones, the feature has its drawbacks. Firstly, the range of current accessories isn’t that much. The most popular methods for wireless charging are magnetic induction and resonance. At most, this allows for 8mm in charging distance. Secondly, the rate of charge is too slow. A standard 300mAh battery takes more than two hours to charge fully. This eliminates the ease offered by public adoption of wireless chargers. After all, you’d be stuck with your smartphone at your Starbucks for at least half an hour to achieve concrete results. Thirdly, accessories for the feature aren’t backward compatible. You need special, built in hardware to charge a smartphone wirelessly, but third party accessories will fill this gap.

Add that to the cost of additional accessories and you see where this is going. Wireless charging on the iPhone 8 will ensure that the standard is adopted quickly. But, it’ll cost you a good chunk of money as well. All this for a system that’s prone to overheating and slow. Apple won’t go easy on pricing for extra chargers either. It’s middle ground folks, one that Cupertino might be able to do without if it’s brave enough to forgo market share. Which it isn’t. Thoughts? Let us know what you think in the comments section below and stay tuned for the latest. We’ll keep you updated.